GeForce GTX 850M vs Radeon RX 480 Mobile
Primary details
GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.
| Place in performance ranking | not rated | 568 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Architecture | Polaris (2016−2019) | Maxwell (2014−2018) |
| GPU code name | Polaris | N15P-GT |
| Market segment | Laptop | Laptop |
| Release date | 1 August 2016 (8 years ago) | 12 March 2014 (10 years ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $450 | no data |
Detailed specifications
General performance parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. These parameters indirectly speak of performance, but for precise assessment you have to consider their benchmark and gaming test results. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.
| Pipelines / CUDA cores | 2304 | 640 |
| CUDA cores | no data | 640 |
| Core clock speed | no data | Up to 936 MHz |
| Number of transistors | 5,700 million | 1,870 million |
| Manufacturing process technology | 14 nm | 28 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 100 Watt | 45 Watt |
| Texture fill rate | 155.1 | 36.08 |
| Floating-point performance | 4.963 gflops | 1.155 gflops |
Form factor & compatibility
Information on compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop graphics cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility).
| Laptop size | large | medium sized |
| Bus support | no data | PCI Express 2.0, PCI Express 3.0 |
| Interface | MXM-B (3.0) | PCIe 3.0 x16 |
| SLI options | - | + |
VRAM capacity and type
Parameters of VRAM installed: its type, size, bus, clock and resulting bandwidth. Integrated GPUs have no dedicated video RAM and use a shared part of system RAM.
| Memory type | GDDR5 | DDR3, GDDR5 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 8 GB | 4 GB |
| Standard memory configuration | no data | DDR3 or GDDR5 |
| Memory bus width | 256 Bit | 128 Bit |
| Memory clock speed | no data | Up to 2500 MHz |
| Memory bandwidth | 256.0 GB/s | 80.0 GB/s |
| Shared memory | - | - |
Connectivity and outputs
Types and number of video connectors present on the reviewed GPUs. As a rule, data in this section is precise only for desktop reference ones (so-called Founders Edition for NVIDIA chips). OEM manufacturers may change the number and type of output ports, while for notebook cards availability of certain video outputs ports depends on the laptop model rather than on the card itself.
| Display Connectors | No outputs | No outputs |
| eDP 1.2 signal support | no data | Up to 3840x2160 |
| LVDS signal support | no data | Up to 1920x1200 |
| VGA аnalog display support | no data | Up to 2048x1536 |
| DisplayPort Multimode (DP++) support | no data | Up to 3840x2160 |
| HDMI | - | + |
| HDCP content protection | - | + |
| 7.1 channel HD audio on HDMI | - | + |
| TrueHD and DTS-HD audio bitstreaming | - | + |
Supported technologies
Supported technological solutions. This information will prove useful if you need some particular technology for your purposes.
| H.264, VC1, MPEG2 1080p video decoder | - | + |
| Optimus | - | + |
| Ansel | - | + |
API compatibility
List of supported graphics and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.
| DirectX | 12 (12_0) | 12 (11_0) |
| Shader Model | 6.4 | 5.1 |
| OpenGL | 4.6 | 4.5 |
| OpenCL | 2.0 | 1.1 |
| Vulkan | 1.2.131 | 1.1.126 |
| CUDA | - | + |
Pros & cons summary
| Recency | 1 August 2016 | 12 March 2014 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 8 GB | 4 GB |
| Chip lithography | 14 nm | 28 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 100 Watt | 45 Watt |
RX 480 Mobile has an age advantage of 2 years, a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 100% more advanced lithography process.
GTX 850M, on the other hand, has 122.2% lower power consumption.
We couldn't decide between Radeon RX 480 Mobile and GeForce GTX 850M. We've got no test results to judge.
Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.
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